Wrench.



J. R. LONG.

WRENCH.

APPLIOATION FILED 11,111.10, 1911.

1,007,298, v Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

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IHYENQTOR W ff im? BY ATTI@ COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPM cu..w^sH|NTON. u. c.

` J. R. LONG.

WRENCH.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

mi w i lo [E 2 TTES/ Y [NYENToza M4 f/f BY M MATT YS MBlA PLANDGRAFMcuwASHlNT0 JOHNR. LONG, OF EAST AKRON, OHIO.

WRENCH.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application led March 10, 1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911. Serial No. 613,609.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. LONG, a citizen of the United States,residing at East Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Wrenches, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in a style of wrench on which Ihave obtained several Letters Patent of the United States includingNumbers 818,180, 890,146 and 955,974, respectively. In the said wrenchesor the wrench covered by the said patents an inherent defect inconstruction and operation developed after a somewhat eX- tended andmore or less experimental use of the wrench by the public and which fora time seemed to be fatal to its use, and this defect or weakness, whenlocalized, was found to be in the lack of a definite and fixed stopwhich would hold it firmly against its work when it was moved up to theobject to be turned and which would x that relation and enable thewrench to be used for that size of work or nut indefinitely withoutaccidentally releasing the parts. As the wrench has heretofore been madeI have depended exclusively on the yoke for holding said jaw in workingposition, but in the firstwrenches there was developed a tendency in theparts to yield more or less as they were tightened under a hard pull onthe handle, and this was objectionable not only because of such yieldingbut because it wedged the sliding jaw so firmly in the yoke that it wasdiflicult of release. My next: improvement sought to remedy this defectby a construction which would prevent such tight wedging or binding ofthe parts by changing the respective inclinations of the jaws and theyoke, and while this worked fairly well it left the free jaw with t-hetendency to surrender unduly between the position which it received whenpressed up against a nut by hand and the yoke was tightened and theposition it would crowd back to when the wrench was operated. Of coursethis was and is objectionable and practically destroyed the commercialvalue of the wrench. Now, I have conceived the invention herein forovercoming and remedying this defect as well as otherwise improving thewrench and this is done by the construction shown in the accompanyingdrawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my new and improvedwrench, and Fig. 2 is an inside edge view. Fig. 3 is a cross section online 3 3, Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the movable orsliding jaw as improved. Fig. `5 is a side elevation of the wrenchlongitudinally sectioned in the portion comprising my presentimprovement, and Fig. 6 is a cross section on line 6 6, Fig. 5. Fig. 7is a cross section corresponding to Fig. 6 and representing amodification of the locking means. Figs. 8 and 9 are further modifiedforms of locking devices.

The main parts shown are reproduced from my former construction exceptas modified herein, and comprise the handle bar H having a fixed jaw 2at its extremity, the sliding member or jaw B having gripping jaw 3 atits larger end and the keeper or yoke Y which operatively unites saidparts.

The gripping jaws 2 and 3 are at right angles to the aXis of the handleor the straight inner edge 4 thereof while the outer edge 5V tapers fromabout the middle of said handle to the base of jaw 2, and the edge 6 onthe outside of jaw B tapers reversely to taper 5 and runs at a fairlysteep inclination from jaw 3 to its reduced eX- tremity, t-he effectbeing to give the said member B a decided wedge shape. The yoke Y isshaped to conform to these differences of inclinations and which alwayshold the same relation under all adjustments of member B, all as in mywrench heretofore made and patented but involved in or with the presentinvention.

Now having the several parts as thus shown and described I approach thesame with what may be broadly termed a clamping means which supplementsthe yoke Y in holding the parts in working relation and taking thestrain of operation but goes a step further as we shall presently see.That is, the yoke performs its original function as heretofore and ismainly relied on to lock the parts operatively together, but while thisis the first necessary eect of the yoke I find that it is insufficientalone or without supplemental means to do this work etlectually, and italso lacks in the adaptability which a popularl wrench must have. Forexample, it the wrench was adjusted to fit on a given size of nut it wasditlicult to get such a iit and then have the parts hold that adjustmentindefinitely while the wrench was being released and re-used on the samenut or on other nuts of the same size, and one trouble was that therewas no way ot' setting the wrench to a certain size but to press it upagainst the nut and lock it by the yoke and take the chance of itsstaying that way. But the pi'oper construction of the wrench to avoidobjectionable wedging together demands that it be sensitive to releaseand this I have obtained by my former improvements. But suchsensitiveness itself disclosed a weakness because in using the wrench itwas very liable to release even when working on the same nut, and ofcourse this was bad to say the least. My present invention thereforetakes a step in advance of all my former improvements and provides thewrench with means tor clamping the parts in addition to their beingbound operatively together by the yoke and whereby both the yoke and thesliding jaw are locked definitely to each other and to the handle-bar.To this end I provide the handle-bar with a groove or channel hlengthwise in its top and middle and form the sliding jaw with a centralopen slot lengthwise from about its middle to its tapered extremity anddirectly over the groove /L beneath. The yoke is provided with a pin 7at its rear and top projecting down into said slot b and fittingslidably therein, and the jaw B has enlargements 8 and 8 at itsotherwise reduced ends and holes centrally through said enlargementsadapted to receive a transverse binding or clamping screw or shaft S Thesaid screw or shaft has it'our features of construction comprising ahead 9, a rounded bearing portion 10 next thereto, an angular middleportion 11 adapted to receive the milled thumb wheel 12 and the screwthreaded extremity 13 working in a like thread in the head 8 on thatside. It desired the extremity ot the said screw may be slightly upsetto prevent its accidental withdrawal. The said thumb wheel engages onthe angular portionll of the said screw to rotate the same and extendsabove the surrounding parts so as to become the operating medium forclamping the parts together. Incident to this eiiect however it is to benoted that extremity 8 of the jaw B has a lip c extending down inposition to bear against the side of handlebar H while the head 9 of thescrew bears against the other side of said bar. Having the said partsconstructed and assembled as seen in Fig. 6 and assuming that the jaw Band yoke Y have been adjusted upon or in respect to a nut to be turned,the said parts are then clamped together by means of the screw S byrotation oit thumb wheel 12. The rst etlfect in this clamping occurs inslot Y) in which the pin 7 iits so closely that while it is tree toslide in said slot it is so close that a very slight tightening of thescrew will clamp the sides of the jaw B thereon and lock the two parts Band Y together. The further rotation of said screw will bring lip c andhead 9 into action against the sides ot handle-bar H and thus clamp bothyoke and jaw B thereon. This being done the wrench can be handled likeany other wrench and the parts will not get loose nor change theirposit-ion, and thus is provided what appears to be the one thingheretofore lacking to make it a truly conimercial article.

In Fig. 7 I show a modification of the clamping means which at least ismore simple than Fig. 6 though not so easily operated and whichcomprises a jaw B constructed as above described and shown in Fig. 4,but having a plain screw S with a milled thumb controlled head 1Gcorresponding otherwise to thumb wheel 12 and threaded in the extremity8 as above, the pin 7 being adapted to engage in slot b as in Fig. 7.Clamping on bar H also occurs between head 1G and lip c as before. Thethumb wheel being located at the base of the handle proper it isconvenient to be engaged by the thumb and rotated to obtain a clampingeffect or release as between the parts c and 16 or their equivalent asmay be required. Room is provided for tree rotation of this wheel evenwhen the clamps are tightening, especially in the iirst form shown. Twodistinct and separate clampmg eii`ects are obtained, one between the awB and yoke Y and the other between said jaw and said bar. Either may beused without the other but in this instance both are used together.

Figs. 8 and 9 represent further modiiications of the screw clampingmechanism for the split end ot the sliding jaw. Thus, Fig. 8 representsa screw S2 having a milled head 16 and a threaded stem 17 engaged by anut 18 on the outside, while Fig. 9 shows a screw S3 which has a middleportion on which thumb wheel 20 is iixed and the ends of which arereversely threaded and engaged by outside nuts 22. Then the wheel 2O isrotated the nuts 2Q stand still, as also does nut 1S in Fig. 7. Thescrews are finely threaded so as to make rotation of the thumb wheelcomparatively easy.

What I claim is:

1. A wrench having a handle-bar with a fixed jaw and a slidable jawthereon having a tapered body and a central slot lengthwise in its outerportion open to the middle of said bar, a yoke about said parts having astem projecting into said slot and means to clamp said jaw on said stemand thus lock said jaw and yoke together.

2. A wrench having a handle-bar with a jaw and a slidable jaw thereondivided lengthwise in its outer portion and a yoke uniting said parts,in combination with a clamping mechanism in the end of said dividedportion of said jaw and adapted to lock said jaw and bar together, saidjaw having a lip at one side bearing against said bar and a clampingscrew having a head bearing against the other side of said bar.

3. A wrench consisting of a single handlebar having a fixed jaw andtapered on its back toward said jaw, a slidable jaw mounted on said barhaving a substantially wedgeshape shank, a yoke having a tapered recessto hold said parts in adjusted relations and a projection in one edge ofsaid yoke adapted to be locked in said wedge shaped shank.

4. A wrench comprising a handle-bar with a xed jaw at its end andtapered toward said jaw, a slidable jaw having a tapered back port-ionand a yoke having a tapered recess operatively combining said parts andin sliding relations with both, and means adapted to clamp said severalparts together comprising a screw through the tapered back portion ofsaid slidable jaw having a thumb wheel to rotate the screw and thustighten or loosen the said parts.

5. A wrench having a bar with a iixed jaw and tapered toward said jaw, aslidable jaw having a shank tapered in the opposite direction, a yokeuniting said parts having inner walls forming a tapered recess therein,and a clamping mechanism fixed in the eX- tremity of the said shank ofthe slidable jaw and having locking engagement with the sides of saidbar.

6. A handle-bar having a Xed jaw at its end and a-groove lengthwise initsinner edge, a slidable aw having a tapered shank with an open slot inits extremity over said groove, and a clamping mechanism comprising aclamping screw transversely through the said slotted extremity having athumb wheel to turn the same.

In testimony whereof I aHiX my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

. JOHN R. LONG. Witnesses:

MARTIN V. CASS,

Gmo. MEGANGLIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by'addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

